Wednesday, February 27, 2013

J/70 Sailing World Awards Ceremony
(Bristol, RI)- J/Boats and CCF Composites were honored in Bristol for earning recognition in Sailing World magazine’s "Boat of the Year Awards" this past week. Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee and United States Senator Jack Reed joined the state’s civic and marine industry leaders to celebrate J/Boats' national and worldwide recognition.

“The annual Sailing World Boat of the Year Awards are much-anticipated by the marine industry and consumers,” said the spokesman for the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association (RIMTA). “An independent panel of experts puts new designs launched the previous year through rigorous inspection and sea trials before announcing an authoritative pick of overall and category winners.” The J/70 from J/Boats and builder CCF Composites earned overall honors from the magazine.

“If you look at a map of our state, it’s not hard to understand why the marine trades have always been one of Rhode Island’s premier economic assets. They are among our state’s oldest and proudest industries, and this legacy continues to the present day with outstanding companies such as J/Boats and CCF Composites,” Rhode Island's Governor Chafee said. “I offer my congratulations and my thanks for helping to maintain Rhode Island’s reputation for excellence in the marine industries.”

With 400 miles of coastline and its compact size, Rhode Island is a magnet for marine businesses. Traditional and modern boat builders, sailmakers, hardware and component manufacturers, riggers, marinas and other services together form a manufacturing continuum that has created a significant center of expertise.

Joining the Senator and the Governor as speakers were Peter Van Lancker, who spoke on behalf of RIMTA; David Reed, Editor of Sailing World magazine; and George Brengle, Director of Marketing for Sailing World; and Jeff Johnstone, President of J/Boats to recognize the company teams behind the award-winning J/70 one-design speedster. Amongst the dignitaries and sailing industry leaders present were North Sails President Ken Read of Newport, Rhode Island; most recently renown for his Volvo Ocean Race exploits aboard PUMA Mar Mostro winning the Inshore Series of the event and, miraculously, nearly winning the event overall despite an unexpected "vacation" in Tristan da Cunha (a lovely island in the middle of the South Atlantic with a golf-course laid out by the mythical unicorns).Bacardi Miami J/70 Preview
(Miami, FL)– It's less than a week before the fourth annual running of BACARDI Miami Sailing Week. A hot list of competitors, great race management and the impossible-to-top winter sailing destination of Biscayne Bay combine with the hospitality Bacardi is known for to put on an outstanding event for one-design sailors from 13 nations who will compete in five classes, including the debut of the J/70 class now taking the world by storm!

After the Quantum Key West Race Week and the Sperry Topsider St Petersburg NOOD Regatta it's pretty self-evident the J/70 class is flying down the learning curve, both linearly (for some) as well as exponentially (for most). Yes, for those near the top of the fleet it's a process of refinement and for those on the "exponential learning curve" it's a quick education on how to sail a very, very simple boat faster.

For many, it's boiling down to the basics, how to start effectively, sail a reasonable windward first leg, set the chute the first time without shrimping it, then staying in pressure to get down to the first downwind mark while making trade-offs between "planing mode" versus "soak mode". The jury is still out on this one, but even one-design sailing guru David Ullman from ULLMAN SAILS says soak vs plane mode is about 11-14 kts of TWS, "all depends on the wave train and angle."

For the Bacardi, there are many teams that can be considered contenders, with J/22, J/24, J/80 World Champions amongst the group, e.g. some of the world's best sailors. One then can't forget those who've learned how to sail fast offshore and translate those experiences onto the short course. It's quite a remarkable cross-section of sailing experience that will be present for this year's J/70 debut in the Bacardi Regatta Miami.

For starters, there's "Tito Bacardi's favorite son"- Dick Stearns- a former STAR World Champion and Havana's "King of Sailors" and family. A long time ago, when you could travel to Havana, Cuba, a little kid named "Richie" followed in his Dad's footsteps and wished he could sail there, too. This coming week, Richie will be sailing with Amy Neill, of Chicago's NITEMARE fame (Melges 24, Melges 32, Farr 40, Santa Cruz 70), on their J/70 in one of the most dynamic one-design classes ever created.

Challenging them will be a "rogues gallery" of extraordinary competitors from across the spectrum of sailing from national to world champions in some of the word's most competitive classes. For starters, Joel Ronning from Minnesota aboard CATAPULT will be hoping to defend his first outing in the J/70 class at St Pete's NOOD Regatta. Then, you have a J/24, Melges 24/32 champion in the form of Joe Woods from Torquay, England sailing RED taking a swing at the brass ring. Not far behind them will be a couple of rascals in the form of past J/24 World/ National Champions Tim Healy and Will Welles sailing together on RASCAL. Giving the first two J/70 regatta winners a "run for the money" will be the following championship teams: RELATIVE OBSCURITY sailed by Peter Duncan and Tom Blackwell with Jud Smith (Etchells 22 World Champion); SAVASANA skippered by Brian Keane (J/80, J/105 Key West Champ and College All-American & Singlehanded champion); SPRING sailed by Dave Franzel (Corinthian's Champion at Key West Race Week); STAMPEDE sailed by some Texas guys who really know how to sail- the Loring/ Pasquinelli team (4th Key West and are J/80 North American champions); SUGAR DADDY sailed by Mark Ploch and Mike Bruno (Mark was first J/24 Midwinters Champion in 1978 and Mike is J/122 North American champion in 2009); and TORQEEDO has Rolf Schmidt and Juergen Waldheim showing up from Germany (famous one-design sailors from Berlin).

During the event sailors will enjoy the hospitality lounge, BACARDI Rum tastings, as well as the daily prize giving for the top-three finishers and the final awards dinner. The prestigious Coral Reef Yacht Club will coordinate on-water activities in collaboration with Biscayne Bay Yacht Club and Coconut Grove Sailing Club. The U.S. Sailing Center and Shake-A-Leg Miami will also support the event.
What it's like to sail a J/70 in a moderate breeze For more Bacardi Miami Sailing Week informationSanta @ J/105 Midwinters!And a "Horny Toad" with a "Distant Passion" for sailing, too!
(Seabrook, TX)- One can never have enough fun with boat names and while the J/24 class for years reigned supreme as the one class worldwide that had some of the craziest, goofiest names ever, the J/105 gang can't be too far behind. A strong Texas contingent will be participating in the 2013 J/105 Midwinters being sailed again this year in Houston, Texas, hosted by the gracious members at Lakewood Yacht Club on the shore of Galveston Bay.

With fourteen boats, the event promises to deliver solid competition due to the fact there are several strong teams participating, some from as far away as Annapolis, New York and Bermuda. Amongst the Texas leaders will be some familiar faces like Bill Lakenmacher's RADIANCE, Bill Zartler's SOLARIS, Uzi Ozeri's INFINITY and Mark Masur's TWO FEATHERS. From Bermuda comes Jim MacDonald sailing DISTANT PASSION for Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and from New York will be Paul Beaudin and crew sailing AVICI for the Harlem Yacht Club. Finally, there is indeed a "Santa" sailing in the regatta, Donald Santa's SANTAS REIGN DEAR from Annapolis Yacht Club in Annapolis, Maryland!

So far, the J/105 Midwinters fleet may be blessed with nice sailing conditions on Friday and Saturday as a massive front passes by to the East, drawing in NNW winds 10-20 kts both days. Then Sunday may be questionable, starting light and shifting SSW with another impending front ready to roll in and challenge the fleet. For more J/105 Midwinters sailing informationJ/22s Sailing Women’s Keelboat Champs!
(Marblehead, MA)- This year the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, Massachusetts will be hosting the International Women’s Keelboat Championship (IWKC) from September 2–7, 2013. Inaugurated in 1985 sailing J/24s in Newport, RI, the "Women’s Keelboat Champs" quickly became the premier women’s sailing event in America and worldwide. Held biennially, the event provides women keelboat and offshore sailors high-quality racing and an opportunity to compete with top national and international sailors. The 15th edition of this Championship will be raced in the International J/22 class keelboat, suitable for four-person teams.

Previous competitors have included Olympic medalists, America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race veterans, World Champions and US Sailing’s Rolex Yachtswomen of the Year, in addition to women of all ages with varying levels of racing experience. This event regularly attracts both the Who’s Who and the up-and-coming of women’s sailing. Former IWKC Champions include Betsy Alison, Sally Barkow, Anna Tunnicliffe, Cory Sertl and JJ Fetter.

The regatta does not require qualification for entry, only that each team becomes a member of its country’s national governing authority for sailing. The fee for entries completed by July 15 is $595 USD per boat and includes admission for all social activities for competitors. For more International Women's Keelboat Championship sailing & registration informationJ/70s Southern Bay Race Week InvitePlus, J/24 Match Race Challenge
(Hampton, VA)- This year, the Southern Bay Race Week is inviting the J/70 class to join them. This event has been a full-blown, long standing, large regatta (around 100 keel boats) that traditionally includes one-design racing for J/24s and J/105s. Racing is on the southern Chesapeake Bay (Hampton Roads waters); regatta Headquarters is Hampton Yacht Club, Hampton, VA; and the dates are from May 31 to June 2, 2013. It's a nice "fit" after the Annapolis NOOD and summer events in Newport!

Later in the summer, from August 3-4, 2013, the Hampton YC also hosts the Third Annual Match Race Challenge sailing in J/24s. This is a “bring your own boat, race your own boat with your own crew” format. The event is fully umpired, has lots of racing, and no one goes home early-- if you know what I mean! Plenty of social events on the schedule as these Virginian sailors certainly know how to roll-out the red carpet and provide some good'ole Southern hospitality.

Regatta Chair Lin McCarthy commented, "We make a concerted effort to keep racers’ costs down for both of these events – free rafting, free launching, free trailer storage, special rates at nearby waterfront hotel, etc. And, we really do work at making all the racers, their families, and friends comfortable at the regatta. Great racing and Southern Hospitality are our trademarks!!" For any questions regarding these events, you may contact Lin at mcbear@earthlink.net or ph# 757-850-4225. For more Southern Bay Race Week sailing information For J/24 Match Race Challenge - Hampton YC sailing informationJ/Sailing News

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

The end of February marks the start of the Caribbean sailing circuit, with the completion of the MoBay Race, the San Juan Regatta and the RORC 600 race. Kudos must go out to a crew with extraordinary resolve to sail fast and have fun in their J/39 in the RORC 600 Race this past week. The same might be said for their compatriot J sailors Down Under in Australia, with a cruising-equipped J/122 simply blowing out the light-bulbs of many pro-sailing programs in an Australian offshore race that started in the famous Sydney Harbour. Speaking of Down Under, the Chilean sailors in South America were treated to multiple demo-sails and races with the J/70 both offshore (e.g. Pacific) as well as on their spectacular lakes surrounded by the gorgeous, verdant Andes Mountain chain. Just north of all this is J/22 one-design class activity taking place in the Cayman Islands, not such a bad place to be considering their average temperature is 75 F and winds at 10-20 kts TWS in the middle of the Caribbean. Finally, our Russian friends are having a great time sailing their J/70, starting in Monte Carlo, Monaco and are "hell-bent-for-leather" to change Russian yachting with the J/70 being the featured boat on their westernmost outpost located on the Baltic in Kaliningrad (e.g. most southeastern part of the Baltic geographically)! Most importantly, these guys are having fun and so are those who have jumped aboard the J/70 already in Russia-- Moscow Boat Show coming soon! Speaking of boat shows, don't forget the Stockholm Boat Show and HISWA Amsterdam Show coming up soon!

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it orupload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.J/122 MARTA JEAN Loves Sydney-Newcastle Race
(Sydney, Australia)- There are times when the obvious is not so obvious, even in sailing. Even for our amazing sailing friends Down Under in Oz. And that is, how does a "cruising spec" J/122 even feel a need to compete, for starters. Then, secondly, how does it then go about deciding to do a race, then crushes the fleet!? Just seems to be one of those remarkable traits of the J/122-- yes, the obvious, not being so obvious, indeed a "wolf in sheep's clothing" as so many of its owners have attested to over the course of time.

Here's a wonderful story of the J/122 MARTA JEAN and the crew who sailed on her for the Sydney-Newcastle Race recently. "It’s becoming a recurring story in Australia when a J/owner decides to compete in a offshore race and puts together some friends, family and a few ring inn’s at short notice. This particular story is from one of those rings inn’s and tells how the J/122 MARTA JEAN in complete cruising trim shone in the recent 70 mile Sydney to Newcastle Race on 16th Feb 2013.

It all started when Steve Rae, the owner of MARTA JEAN, rang me and said asked whether I was available to do the race. Any way this is how it went-

We had a conservative start not far from Clark Island in Sydney harbour dogged by fluky wind, lulls and light airs but we managed to pick the shifts and by the time we hit the open ocean we had already passed 4 or 5 boats. With the 155 sq meter running spinnaker now pulling we started to extend even further on the boats passed in the harbour. Keeping close to the rhumbline and risking the edge of the EAC (Eastern Australian Current) running from half to over knot against us in places, MARTA JEAN was moving well with good VMGs so that even the larger competitors were not catching us. By the time we reached Pittwater over 25 miles north of Sydney in this great 70 mile dash, MARTA JEAN had already consolidated a good position in the competitive fleet consisting of Sydney's top offshore race boats, some 50 footers, First 40s, X 43, Santa Cruz 50’s, DK 43’ and Cookson 12s to name a few.

By the halfway mark with the large running kite still pulling MARTA JEAN at over 10 knots at times we were able to work the small variable wind shifts. A major consideration was to change modes to cover the fleet behind us, therefore enabling us to consolidate and steadily extend our lead on some of the competition.

Close to Newcastle the wind shifted to the north a little and we had to drop the big running kite. By this stage we knew we'd done OK as one of the Cookson 12s was in hailing distance and they owed us a lot of time. Turning West to head down Newcastle estuary and again with the large running kite up, MARTA JEAN surged towards the finish line in her home port and a great reception from the club as the first Newcastle boat home! We were very pleased to learn we had won on PHS by 13 minutes and finished 4th on IRC.

All in all a great days racing with a great bunch of people, thanks to Steve and his wife Maude for another great race on their superb J/122 MARTA JEAN!" Thanks for the contribution from Ray & Sandra Entwistle from Sydney.J/39 SLEEPER VIII WinsRORC 600 IRC3 Class
(English Harbour, Antigua)- A good event just keeps getting better and better. While 50-odd boats is nothing to brag about in the greater scheme of things (compared to the RORC's legendary Fastnet Race with 350+ boats), it is significant that such a "young race" has grown by leaps and bounds and, most importantly, that anyone who has sailed it simply LOVES the race. Q.E.D.

While "brother" Peter J's gang of GUNBOATS have amassed a significant presence in the event with an orange and silver boat or two, J/Teams have been taking up the challenge as well. Last year, a J/122 and J/39. This year a very well-sailed J/39 in the form of Jonty Layfield's SLEEPER VIII. As an avid J/Boats sailor, Jonty was the proud owner of two J/39’s- the old YES/ASSASSIN which he won Cowes week with and one in St Thomas that he bought and keeps in Antigua!

In between racing his J/39’s, Jonty won a Cowes Week race in August 2012 helming a J/70. He sails with his wife Vicky son Jack and daughter Amy. Here's Jonty's report from the Caribbean.

"Just to let you know we won our class in the RORC 600, amazingly enough! Toughest race we have ever done, steady 25 knots, massive 3-4 m seas and we got soaked at the start and remained soaked the while way around, though the boat is 22 years old she never let us down, well done to J/Boats, we beat a `Swan 44, 46 and a 48 in our class.

We were 5th overall down at Guadeloupe 15 miles offshore then stopped for 4 hours. We then had a bloody awful 60 mile beat up to the Saints. We then ripped the main at the reef clew and could not reef for the rest of the race which made the race even harder. Nevertheless, a great outcome for IRC Class3! Cheers, Jonty". For more RORC 600 Race sailing informationRussian J/70 Racing isFamily & Friends Affair!
(Kaliningrad, Russia)- Over the past several years, the Russian sailors have become increasingly visible on the international sailing circuit and they're developing their local sailing talent quite quickly. Having sailed the J/80s in Lanzarote, Canary Islands for their Russian Federation Sailing Championships, the Russian sailing teams are not only learning fast, they've taken a few "plays" from the Spanish and French "playbook" on how to develop better, faster, smarter sailors! This past year JBoats in Europe was pleased to announce the creation of "J/Russia" with partners Grigory Aksenov and Dmitrii Zaritckii.

We had a chance to catch up with this dynamic duo recently after their participation in the J/70 class at the Primo Cup in Monaco. Here's Dmitrii's commentary,

"For starters, we just picked up MOJO, the first J/70 in Russia and Eastern Europe, she just arrived to Kaliningrad, South Baltic, Russia! As you know, already much has been written about Primo Cup Monaco before. So, we will add our $0.02 about our experiences so far as J/Russia!

The big news is that the J/70s just had their first regatta in Europe, debuting at the Primo Cup at Yacht Club Monaco. We have sailed in the Primo Cup before, so know it well and love it! This is a good event to start the European sailing season, with good organization, comfort and the social part is especially great, if not fantastic! How can you not like Monte Carlo!? Unfortunately, the weather in the Bay of Monaco was a real challenge, due to the proximity of the mountains. The wind was not stable coming offshore from the North, constantly changing direction and strength. But, the high level of competition and sailing new one-design J/70s made this regatta very interesting for us. We will definitely go to Primo Cup Monaco again next year!!

We were happy to see the tremendous interest and focus on the J/70s by Yacht Club de Monaco. There were dozens of participants who came up to us and asked us our opinion of the J/70s! Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves sailing the J/70, it's quite easy to steer, easier to control the sails and easier to crew relative to other types of sailing boats. Just so you know, for a basis of comparison, we've had a lot of experience of racing against top Europeans and Russians sailing J/24s, Platu 25s, J/80s and SB20s. But, we like the J/70 more than anything else! It's a fun, amazing boat! We think many Russian sailors will like it, too.

After the race in Monaco, we drove across France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Poland and arrived to Kaliningrad, Russia. We drove with the J/70 on a trailer for more than 4,000km, but the road-trip did not seem very difficult for us and our Nissan Qashqai 2L passed the test very well. On the road we were traveling as a normal passenger car, the overall weight of the car and the boat was a little more than 3 metric tons. On toll roads, we also paid as a regular passenger car, this is also good news! Easy to trail in Europe and economical!

We live in Kaliningrad, our sailing club is based here and we plan to create the Russian J/70 Fleet here, too. Kaliningrad is the best place for sailing in Russia (and ex-USSR nations) - we have a lot of water (the Baltic Sea) and two huge bays with good breeze. From Kaliningrad, in one day you can get by car to the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, and can quickly go by ferry to Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway. At the same time, the one day trip to the East means you can quickly reach the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine and St. Petersburg, Russia. Moscow is a bit far, but only 2,000km away-- a long, long day's drive!

We plan to buy a few J/70s and open a J/Sailing School here in Kaliningrad, holding regattas and taking part in other regattas in Europe and ex-USSR countries. We hope to see all European J/70 sailors again soon! Best, Dmitrii and Grigory. Sailing photo credits- Irina Belousa Irina also photographed the Russian Federation Championship sailed in J/80s off Lanzarote, Canary Islands this past November 2012.J/22s Cayman Islands Regatta
(Cayman Islands)- As they have done over the past several years, the Cayman Islands Sailing Club have invited J/22 sailors from around the world to come down for some winter sailing on their gorgeous Caribbean aquamarine waters blessed with 10-20 kt trade winds each and every day you're there along with more sun-kissed, cloudless sailing than you can possibly imagine! Teams from the United States, Bahamas, Jamaica, Germany, Netherlands have all participated in the past.

This year, Team Nefeli (GER 1328) will be starting in the Cayman Islands SC Winter Series on their borrowed boat. They will be participating in the Race Cayman Regatta from March 15th to 17th, 2013. The team is comprised of members from the Sailing Club Rheingau in Germany, including Peter Karrie, Falko Brown, Gina Hess and Chrissi Böhnke.
For more J/22 Race Cayman Regatta sailing informationJ/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

* J/70 Sailing in Chile- We recently got an updated report from our friends "down under" in South America regarding J/70 fleet development. Juan Eduardo-Reid sent us a report and photos of demo-sailing on the spectacular Panguipulli Lake nestled into the western part of the Andean Mountains during their summer! Juan's commentary follows:

"We have finally had the chance to show the J/70 in four different places this summer:

- Talcahuano- along the Pacific Coast where the Soto 40 World Championships were recently sailed by some of the world's best sailors. We only exhibited the boat since we were still waiting for our sails!

- Ranco- it's a very big lake and sailing area, small sailing activity, but we sailed the boat four days there! Great interest because it was so easy to sail!

- Frutillar- we went racing the 8th to 10th of February there and have the J/70 in a very good position at the club, with the J70 winning most of the time!

- Panguipulli- this is where I rigged and sailed J/70 #156 with the customer and also sailed with 5 or 6 potential customers there. In Panguipulli, it's the lake with the greatest potential as there are over twenty J/24 sailing teams and another group of good sailors, too.

We're focusing on bringing in new people to sailing on the lakes and so far the effort is bringing nice results! More news in the near future. J/70 is a very nice solution for Chile, easy to tow behind a car, easy to ramp launch-- very, very important here in Chile-- we have no hoists!"

* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again! We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR.

Alan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above) from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA. A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day! Amazing passage it was! Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.

AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda. Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large. Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR

* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea". The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:

Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' QuestionsAdvice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety

The article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted many questions and comments from readers. We asked William Stellin, who wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.

WSJ- "What kind and make of boat did you use? Looking back, would you have picked a different boat?"

Bill- "In 1995-96, J/Boats of Newport, RI, came out with a new cruiser/racer model, the J/42. We bought hull No. 6 of this popular 42-foot sailboat and named it JAYWALKER. This was our fourth boat since beginning sailing in 1975.

Although long-distance cruising wasn't what we had in mind when we purchased JAYWALKER, it soon became apparent it had the ability to carry us easily and safely anywhere we wanted to go. Because the boat is light, it sails well in light winds, which means very little motoring is necessary.

People often ask (and argue) about what boat is best for cruising. Any boat that is strong, safe, fast, comfortable and easily handled by two people should fit the bill. One thing for sure, fast is fun—and important when trying to avoid bad weather."

The J Cruising Community J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers. Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand. Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world's oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between. Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins?? Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

- SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).

- Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun). Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com. Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand. MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending. As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever-http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/J/Brokerage

J-46 STREGA For Sale

The J/46 STREGA was one of the last J/46s built (hull #39) and shows in "new boat" condition. She has many options including J-Boats installed supplemental refrigeration, power SSB and cruising packages.

Her features include a 76 hp Yanmar diesel, a Mastervolt 7.7 kw generator, 630 amp house batteries, two zone air conditioning, primary power winches, a three cabin cherry interior, two heads, hot and cold pressure water, 120 gallons of water, 88 gallons of fuel, 19” television, varnished rails, Raymarine electronics and Doyle sails.

Typical of all J-Boats, STREGA sails beautifully and handles well in all weather conditions. Boat yard maintained and stored indoors STREGA is a must see for anyone interested in a mid-40s cruising sailboat.
For more information, please call Bruce Taymore at 617-529-3991.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

New! J/88 Family Speedster
(Newport, RI)- From the J design/build team that launched the J/70 and J/111, comes the NEW J/88, a 29’ mid-size family speedster with stability, style and sailing comfort. J/88 hits the sweet-spot in J Boat’s performance sprit range – large enough to provide the creature comforts of a sit-in cockpit, inboard diesel, overnighting interior and head; and small enough to be single-point lifted, owner trailered and stored.

If sailing is having your cake and eating it too, then the J/88 will be like ordering the whole dessert menu. Design highlights include a high-aspect, non-overlapping sail plan (no genoas) with a carbon fiber, double-spreader mast - deck stepped for easy rigging, tuning and keeping the main cabin dry. The 6.5 ft fixed, low VCG keel with molded GRP finish is similar to the J/70’s, ensuring a fair, smooth foil for every boat. The result will be a ride that’s every bit as exciting as the J/88’s speedster siblings - fast and balanced upwind with planing performance downwind in moderate to fresh breezes.

On deck, the daysailing comforts include a spacious T-shaped cockpit (J/111 style) with seating and backrests forward of the floor-mounted traveler and a wide-open cockpit aft due to the tiller-steered, transom mounted high-aspect rudder. Adding to J/88’s ease-of-sailing characteristics is an in-deck jib furler, retractable carbon bowsprit and cockpit-led sail controls. Belowdecks, the J/88 sports a weekending layout with two full length settees, Igloo cooler, galley sink, private head forward of bulkhead and optional V-berth.

J/88 hull #1 is projected to launch in June 2013! For more J/88 sailing information and details, please contact your local J/Dealer or J/Boats at "info@jboats.com".

J/22 Midwinters Preview
(Tampa, FL)- The J/22 class is returning to Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa Bay for its J/22 Midwinter Championships. As one of the "sailingest" yacht clubs in the South, the DIYC always goes the extra mile to take care of its sailors and has deservedly gained the reputation as one of the nicest yacht clubs to host major events in the South. Plus, one of the big bonuses often cited by the sailors is that the bar is great and the course can be viewed from the deck, just about a half mile or less away!

Nearly twenty J/22s are participating in this year's Midwinters and, given the experiences from J/Teams sailing in recent regattas on Tampa Bay, the J/22s can expect the entire smorgasbord of weather conditions, from light to heavy, choppy to flat and warm to cold-- pretty typical for this time of year on the Bay! Top talent is showing up and one can expect that amongst the leaders will be J/22 champions like Chris Doyle and Will Harris on THE JUG 41 leading the Rochester fleet contingent along with Travis Odenbach and Patrick Wilson on HONEY BADGER. Top Chesapeake Bay teams of Allan "Albie" Terhune sailing DAZZLER and Jeff Todd's HOT TODDY will figure into the mix. Then, can't forget the Texas gangster, lead by past World Champion Terry Flynn on TEJAS along with Casey Lambert's team on BLACKBURN MARINE RACING. Good luck to all and, above all, have fun! Should be excellent racing this coming weekend. For more J/22 Midwinters sailing informationJ/70 Moscow Boat Show
(Moscow, Russia)- Recently, the J/Russia team of Grigory Aksenov and Dmitrii Zaritckii picked up their new J/70 MOJO in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, drove down to Monte Carlo, Monaco and sailed MOJO in the Yacht Club Monaco's Primo Cup regatta on the Mediterranean. After having a fabulous time getting to know the Monagesque and Italian J/70 sailors, and enjoying some of Monaco's renown nightlife, Grigory and Dmitrii drove MOJO back to Kaliningrad, that beautiful Russian city on the southeastern end of the Baltic Sea.

Now, the J/Russia Team are taking their J/70 MOJO eastward to Moscow to attend the Moscow Boat Show- running from March 12th to 17th- for the introduction of the J/70 speedster to the Russian Sailing Federation and to all Russian sailors east and west! For anyone in the European area, this is a great opportunity to travel to Moscow, enjoy its remarkable history and culture (plus great food & drink!) and "talk shop", discussing the rapid growth of the J/70 in Europe and the enormous enthusiasm Russian sailors have for the J/70.

The Sun Never Sets on J's Sailing Worldwide

February offers up some stark contrasts in some parts of the world, bordering almost on the unbelievable. "Mid-summer" series are taking place at the same time as "midwinter" series! What fun! And, both are sailed in somewhat warm, sometimes cold, somewhat breezy, sometimes gale-force weather conditions! In Capetown, South Africa, for example, they recently finished sailing their Royal Cape YC Mid-Summer FLING Regatta with J/Teams sailing on a J/111, J/105, J/27 and J/22! Nearer to the Equator, the RORC was running its "600" Race meandering in a lazy figure-of-eight around the Caribbean island chain with the J/39 SLEEPER VIII having a go of it. Then, just west of them, the J/120 REBECCA just sailed the Pineapple Cup- Montego Bay Race that takes a right-turn around Cuba's Guantanamo Bay to finish at the picturesque, most-welcoming club ever, the MoBay Yacht Club! Heading a bit further West, up into the Gulf of Mexico, the Tampa Bay area recently held the J/24 Midwinters at Davis Island YC and just next door on the next weekend, the St Petersburg YC hosted another Sperry Topsider NOOD Regatta St Pete, hosting a huge fleet of J/70s and J/24s. Leaping across America to the West Coast (a.k.a. "Left Coast"), several "midwinter" series are taking place in the greater Los Angeles/ San Diego region in "SoCal". One of the first events to complete was the Santa Barbara YC's Hot Rum Series that had "pursuit-style" racing across three classes and for overall honors for a fleet that consisted of J/22, J/24, J/105s, J/29, J/92 and a J/145. Next up was the recent Southern California Yachting Association Midwinters that saw one-design fleets of J/80s, J/105s and J/120s participating at California YC and San Diego YC. Finally, Marina del Rey's Del Rey YC Berger Series for offshore PHRF racing has started and ends later in May.

Read on! The J/Community and Cruising section below has many entertaining stories and news about J/Sailors as well as cruising blogs about those who continue to enjoy the Caribbean and the South Pacific, staying warm while others are trying to stay warm up north. Check them out! More importantly, if you have more J/Regatta News, please email it orupload onto our J/Boats Facebook page! Below are the summaries.

For additional J/Regatta and Event dates in your region, please refer to the on-line J/Sailing Calendar.J/70 CATAPULT Wins St PeteBrown Takes J/24 Class & Overall NOOD Title
(St Petersburg, FL)- It’s hard to remember a class that has hit the ground running faster than the J/70 class. Amateur sailors from a variety of other classes are scrambling to get in and get good, while representatives from every sailmaker are investing a lot of time and effort to get the early jump on sail design, rig tune, and boat-handling techniques.

None of this will diminish the importance or satisfaction gained from a regatta win, but it does add another layer of intrigue to any J/70 regatta in 2013. Who won is as important has how they did it. The Sperry Top-Sider St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta was the NOOD debut for the J/70 class, and it did so in style with 20 boats signed up to sail.

Unseasonably cool conditions dominated the 16th edition of the Sperry Top-Sider St. Pete NOOD. But with the cool weather came breeze, and sailors generally prefer wind and cool weather to balmy temps and glassy seas. Those who braved the wind chill on Tampa Bay Friday through Sunday were rewarded with near perfect racing conditions, which enabled the race officials to run up to 11 races for each of the nine classes.

The biggest class was the fledgling J/70 class, with 20 entries. As the J/24 did when it debuted the late 1970s, the J/70 is attracting a lot of interest in its first full year of one-design racing. Joel Ronning, of Minneapolis, MN sailed his brand new boat, CATAPULT with Willem Van Waay and Jeremy Wilmot and a St Pete YC Sailing Center Opti sailor to win the J/70 class by 20 points with a 1-4-4-1-1-2-1-6-2-2 record. It wasn't easy as the CATAPULT team was challenged by several boats over the course of the regatta, but a combination of incredibly shifty conditions, OCS's and misjudged boat-handling (shrimping and broaches) in the 15-25 kt breezes encountered on Saturday's and Sunday's racing practically eliminated CATAPULT's principal competition. Nipping at their heels the entire regatta was the team of Will Welles (Newport, RO) and Ethan Bixby (local sailor from St Pete) sailing RASCAL, winning two races, but having to recover from an OCS in a critical race meant the RASCAL boys had to settle for a 3-6-3-5-3-1-8-10-4-1 scoreline for a total of 44 pts to take second overall. Just behind them in third overall was MENACE, on-board were past J/22 and J/80 World Champions sailing as a team, Kerry Klingler (Larchmont, NY) and Terry Flynn (Houston, TX), sailing their best series to date and compiling a 6-19-2-7-4-8-3-4-1-4 tally for 58 points.

Behind the top three was a real battle for the balance of the top five. In the hunt were the teams of LIFTED (Jim Cunningham- Tiburon, CA), USA 171 (Peter Vessella- San Francisco, CA), MUSE (Heather Gregg-Earl & Joe Bardenheier- Boston, MA), JUNGLELAND (Chris & Carolyn Groobey- Annapolis, MD), SURGE (Jeff Perini) and USA 69 (Joe Colling- Bath, OH). With all six teams within ten points of one another going into the last day, anything could happen to settle the score for the top five. In the end, Jeff Perini's team sailed well in the final day's extremely shifty winds filled with enormous puffs and holes to beat out the others to secure 4th overall. Fifth went to Jim Cunningham's LIFTED team, beating out USA 171 by 3 pts and MUSE by 4 pts! It was fun, close racing overall with lots of reports of J/70s hitting 15-16+ knots in the windy, wavy conditions!

St. Pete local Robby Brown dominated the 15-boat J/24 class winning seven of 11 races. By virtue of the impressive win over some top competition, Brown, whose boat USA 799 first touched water 35 years ago, was selected as the overall winner for the regatta. That honor includes a trip to the British Virgin Islands in November, where Brown and his crew will get a chance to battle for national bragging rights against the overall winners from the other five Sperry Top-Sider NOOD Regattas.

Robby Brown (seen here second from the left) and the crew of the J/24 USA 799 celebrate their overall win in the 2013 Sperry Top-Sider St. Petersburg NOOD Regatta. This is Brown's second time winning the overall honors, but after being unable to go to the Caribbean the first time he is determined to make it to the BVI in November for the NOOD Championships.

Robby commented about his win, "A huge thanks to everyone aboard Team 799 this past weekend! Seen here rounding first with our complete North inventory. A fantastic job by all. Despite Travis Odenbach and Team Honey Badger's attempt to cripple our trimmer on Saturday night, our team performed at top speed all weekend. We were honored to be chosen the Overall event winner for the second time and will definitely represent Tampa Bay in the Virgin Islands for the Championships this November. A HUGE thanks to Nate Vilardebo, Stephanie Karidas, Karen Regan (the future wife) and Matt, our newly discovered secret weapon. Thanks to the event organizers for an outstanding regatta, and we were absolutely blessed with some superb sailing conditions on Tampa Bay all weekend!" Sailing World's Stu Streuli Interviewed Robby Brown, please see it here. For more J/70 and J/24 Sperry Topsider NOOD St Petersburg Regatta sailing informationMollicone Dominates J/24 MidwintersNewport Fleet #50 Steamrolls Competition
(Tampa, FL)- John Mollicone's HELLY HANSEN team has seized the lead after five races on the opening day and never looked back. Taking four 1sts and three 2nds in ten races, John Mollicone from Newport, RI and his HELLY HANSEN team were crowned 2013 J/24 Midwinter Champions. With Tim Healy, Geoff Becker, Dan Rabin and Gordon Borges, the group was able to spectate the last of the 10-race series to allow the other 19 teams to duke out the remaining places.

Will Welles, also from Newport Fleet #50, skippered COUGAR to an impressive series and 26 points for second place, starting off fast to lead the series after four races but dropping back in the end, collecting a 2-1-5-4-6-1-2-3-8-2. Peter Bream’s TEAM TARHEEL accumulated 43 points for third overall but had to work very hard to three other teams that could have easily grabbed the last spot on the podium. Dueling for the bronze and just 1 pt back with 44 pts was Mike Ingham's team on USA 5448 from Rochester, NY in 4th place; Tony Parker's "AI" team in 5th place just two points back with 47 pts; and in 6th was Travis Odenbach on HONEY BADGER tied with Tony Parker on points but losing the tie-breaker! Close racing, indeed!

Conditions in sunny Tampa Bay remained gorgeous on Wednesday, with breeze between 14-16 knots and puffs to 18. Mollicone praised the “champagne sailing conditions” as the best he’s ever seen there. On the heels of winning last November’s J/24 North American Championship, Mollicone thanked his consistent team, saying “We’ve got a good team, but the biggest thing is we’ve got the same people all the time, and it makes a big difference in our crew mechanics and communication.” The group put in some practice time and training before the event which “helped a lot with getting comfortable again on the J/24 after taking some time off,” Mollicone explained. His dependable group will be heading to Howth, Ireland in August for the J/24 World Championship, but he’ll turn over the helm to Tim Healy. “We’ll just switch roles, and then next year I’ll drive in Newport (for the 2014 J/24 Worlds),” shared Mollicone. In Wednesday’s final two races, Mollicone and Tony Parker took the bullets.

The annual ocean race of 811 nautical miles started on Friday, February 8 at Florida’s Port Everglades, sending the 'MoBay' fleet of ten boats--sailing in IRC and PHRF divisions--on a challenging all-points-of-sail course to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Shockwave crossed the finish line on Sunday, February 10 with an elapsed time of two days, 11 hours, 23 minutes and two seconds, just short of the current race record that was set in 2005 by Titan 12. Due to the favorable conditions, all of the boats had crossed the finish line by Tuesday evening, February 12, two days earlier than expected.

One of the navigators on the race said there were two different theories regarding the expected weather for the race. "One was that it would be light at the start but very solid the rest of the way to Jamaica; the other forecast was for a light and variable breeze to carry on for the first 12 hours of the race, and that proved to be the case."

Immediately after the start, racers cross the Gulf Stream for the Northwest Providence Channel. The middle of the race offers a fetch down the eastern side of the Bahamas Island Chain toward the tip of Cuba. The final stretch is a sailor’s dream: a 240-mile downwind sleigh ride from Cuba’s eastern tip, known as the Windward Passage, to the finish at Montego Bay. After this year’s finish, sailors were treated to a week of fun with cocktail parties every night, steel bands, limbo dancing and other memorable displays and competitions, ending with a dinner, dance and prize giving ceremony on Friday, February 15.

Glenn Gault’s REBECCA finished at 21:08:59 on February 13th, just in time to join the tail end of the "Early Bird Cocktail Party" at the Montego Bay Yacht Club. The complimentary case of Red Stripe tasted great and was a good prelude for a good night’s sleep. The crews are all cleaning up and catching up to be ready for the rest of the weeks festivities and the Friday night event to see who takes home the coveted Pineapple Cup! There was even more to celebrate for Glenn's REBECCA team for beating two of the world's fastest Class 40s and a Santa Cruz 52 for overall PHRF honors! Sailing Photo Credits- Marco Oguendo! For more Pineapple Cup/ Montego Bay Race Sailing information

J/39 Blasts Off On RORC 600!
(English Harbour, Antigua)- A flash of smoke, high above the "Pillars of Hercules" announced the start of the 5th edition of the RORC Caribbean 600. Before the start 25 knots of trade winds, gusting close to 30, provided feisty conditions. Nevertheless, the sailors were quite excited as this meant the "big boys" would be targeting record-setting wind conditions for the race-- faster than 42 hours for 600nm!!

"At the moment, the forecasts seem to be quite stable," advised Hugh Agnew, a renown navigator and veteran offshore racer. "We can expect 20-26 knots of easterly wind, maybe slightly to the south of due east for the duration of our race. The longest leg of the course is from St. Barth's to Guadeloupe and with this wind direction, coupled with the apparent wind created by the boats, it will be forward of the beam, so many boats will be unlikely to fly a spinnaker. This will slow them down, but the other side of the coin is that this wind direction may be beneficial on a crucial part of the course-the south side of Guadeloupe. If we get a one-sided beat, requiring few tacks, this could really work in the fleets favor."

It has been a fast race so far on what is a pretty "reach" offshore course with some long fetches and beats interspersed amongst the "islands" course. After a yeoman's effort last year, Jonty Layfield's team from the United Kingdom have continued to modernize their sail inventory and have their beautiful J/39 SLEEPER VIII rolling along quite fast! At this moment at 1500 hours on Thursday, Feb 21, their lying about 75 nm from the finish line and are currently leading IRC 3 Class! We wish them luck and wish them more Fair Winds & God Speed! you can follow them with Race tracking on YellowbrickSailing Photo credits- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com For more RORC Caribbean 600 sailing information

J/Teams Enjoy Warm SCYA MidwintersJ/80s, J/105s, J/120s Racing One-Design
(Marina del Rey, CA)- The SCYA Midwinter Regatta’s history is packed with legendary sailors and their boats from the early days to the present. In 1928, SCYA and the LA Junior Chamber of Commerce teamed up to sponsor the first Midwinters which was promoted as an example of the sports “paradise” that Southern California offered in the winter. As hoped, the event attracted boats from the Great Lakes, Atlantic Coast and the rest of the Pacific Coast, and some of the best known yachtsmen in America, including Clifford Mallory, John Alden and Herbert Stone, editor of Yachting. Yachtsmen have continued to come west and from up and down the West Coast for the SCYA Midwinters ever since. Hosting over 2,000 sailors at over a dozen venues around Southern California, the local clubs put on quite a show and generally offer excellent race management for the highly competitive one-design classes attending.

One of the largest J contingents is hosted at San Diego Yacht Club, with strong fleets of J/80s, J/105s and J/120s participating. In the J/120 class, there were some familiar names filling out the top three on the podium. Winning the event in this hotly contested class was Chuck Nichols on CC RIDER, winning the last two races to overtake his friend John Laun on the great yacht CAPER! Third was Mike Hatch sailing the mighty J-ALMIGHTY!

After an exhausting fall 2012 sailing nearly four J/105 regattas in a row, it's a wonder any of the San Diego J/105 sailors crawled off their physiotherapists beds to go sailing a J/105 again, so soon! Nevertheless. off they went and one of the top dogs locally took home the silverware again, with Dennis & Sharon Case on WINGS sailing a closely fought series to win with three 1sts and two 2nds, beating friends Rick Goebel and gang on SANITY by just 3 pts! Lying third was Dave Vieregg on TRIPLE PLAY.

The J/80s saw a closely fought series for first place with Matt Hurlimann on FIREBOLT finally taking the gun in the last race to take the overall lead and win by one point. Second was J/WORLD II sailed by the local J-boys. And third was J/WORLD I also sailed by local sailors.

Over at California Yacht Club, they hosted a competitive J/80 fleet, too. In their event, it was Kurt Johnson's AVET from Cal YC that simply dominated the event with straight bullets! Second was Scott Witt on BLUE J with straight 2nds! And, third was Dave Angers' MISS DEMEANOR with nearly straight 3rds! Sailing photo credits- Marnie Buddo and Bronny Daniels/ Joysailing.com. For more SCYA Midwinters sailing informationJ/111 Flies in Capetown Mid-Summer Fling!
(Capetown, South Africa)- While those north of the Equator are still fighting old Mother Winter, the intrepid sailors of Capetown are having a ball sailing in balmy breezes and slightly "cool" waters-- the stuff Great White Sharks love to swim in chasing yummy brown seals! Yikes! Even though the infamous Shark Island is just offshore with various Great Whites leaping 10-15 ft into the air while vying for their "aerial shark world chumping-ship", the sailors are blissfully ignorant about it and go their separate ways, planing down massively long slopes of fast-moving South Atlantic storm swells at a zillion miles per hour!

Having great fun in the Royal Cape YC's Mid-Summer Fling Regatta was the new J/111 TENACITY sailed by Erol Stern and Rob Meek. With their magnificent "purple people eater" asymmetric spinnaker straining hard at the end of its dyneema "leash", the TENACITY gang certainly had their fair share of full-on screaming planes down the huge swells in the high teens! In the end, their team managed to pull off a third overall in IRC Division I! A bit off the pace but having just as much fun was the J/105 PANTS ON FIRE sailed by Dwayne Assis and Paul Thompson, managed a third in the final and extremely windy last race-- gusts over 30 kts!!

In Division I Racing, the J/27 HILl BILLY sailed by Peter Hill sailed well to finish 6th in their grouping, loving in particular the last heavy air day. In Division II, the J/22 ESCAPE RACING TEAM sailed by Rob Tanner also enjoyed their racing over the course of the series.

If you're ever down in the South African region, be sure to stop by the Royal Cape YC in the shadows of the enchanting Table Mountain. The Club hosts important sailing events including South Africa's premier keelboat regattas. The Cape to Rio and South Atlantic Races have been hosted by Royal Cape Yacht Club since inception in 1971. Other international events have included the Whitbread Race, the BT Global Challenge, The BOC Around Alone Race, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Hong Kong Challenge, to name but a few. Down the centuries, the Southern tip of the African continent, has extended a welcome to seafarers, gaining for the city and the RCYC the soubriquet- "The Tavern of the Seas"!! Sailing Photo Credits- Onne Vanderal.com. For more Capetown Mid-Summer Fling sailing information

J/Teams Loving SoCal Sunshine in Del Rey YC Berger Series
(Marina del Rey, CA)- As one of the first racing series of the Southern California midwinter sailing events, the Del Rey Yacht Club in Marina del Rey starts off the New Year with their Berger Series for PHRF racing in SoCal. It is a five-race event and is the premier distance, day-time series in Marina del Rey, culminating with a race to their Catalina Island Harbor facility and returning to Marina del Rey (yes, that beautiful, massive 10,000+ boat marina just north of LAX airport.

So far, several J/Teams are loving the sunshine and moderate breezes (if not a bit light) and are leading their divisions. In PHRF B, theJ/80 AVET sailed by Curt Johnson from Cal YC won the first race. Third is the J/70 DFZ sailed by the team of Kownacki & Jenkins, also from Cal YC. Fourth is the J/109 SPRAY skippered by Peter Nelson and just behind him in 6th is Alice Leahey's J/109 GRACE O'MALLEY.

In PHRC C, Jim Bauerley's J/24 CRITTER is leading followed in third, appropriately enough, is the J/24 TRIPLE sailed by Lars Radmall and in 6th is the J/30 EGGEMOGGIN led by Kris Helm.

The PHRF A divisions sees three J's all in a row together in the top ten with the J/125 TIMESHAVER sailed by Viggo Torbenson in 8th, followed by the J/111 JATO skippered by the Webster & Moorehead team in 9th and Joe Simpkin's J/124 FORGIVENESS in 10th.

The next two events are the Santa Monica Bay Race- Saturday, March 2nd and then the finale, the Pt Dume Race- Saturday, May 4th. For more Del Rey YC Berger Series sailing informationJ/105 REPEAT OFFENDER Wins Hot Rum Class BJ/24 BULLET Wins Class C
(Santa Barbara, CA)- Every year, the Santa Barbara YC hosts the first of their two really fun regattas of the year, the Hot Rum Series (the latter being the Fiesta Cup Regatta that serves as the pre-feeder event for the Santa Barbara to King Harbor Race. Taking after their friends down in San Diego that may have pioneered the "hot rum" pursuit series concept, the event is composed of three individual pursuit-styled races scheduled to be held one each on January 12th, January 26th, and February 9th. Pursuit-style races can be a lot of fun as the slowest boats start first and the fastest last, making for quite a spectacle as all the faster boats give chase and often past the slower boats in front (thought not always!).

This year's Hot Rum Series saw lots of action with a steady 20+ knots in the final race on what many saw as a "classic Santa Barbara" day. Starting off with a light fog that burns off by noon and with a rapidly building offshore breeze howling out of the NNW creating 20-30 kts at the offshore Santa Barbara sea-buoy in the western parts of the Channel.

On the last day, Larry Harteck's J/105 REPEAT OFFENDER literally won the race by a nose over the J/24 Bullet, but it was not enough for the J/105 to take over the J/24 in the overall standings. So, BULLET takes the "Top Dog" award for the J/Teams! Overall, in fact, the J/Teams did well with the J/24 BULLET taking 5th overall and 1st in Class C, the J/105 REPEAT OFFENDER taking 6th overall and 1st in Class B, the J/145 RADIO FLYER taking 7th overall and 4th in class A, the J/105 ESCAPADE taking 8th overall and 2nd in class B and, finally, the J/22 BLUES CREWS taking 10th overall and plummeting to 9th in Class B (due to their disasters 18th in the last race). For more Santa Barbara YC Hot Rum Series sailing informationJ/Community

What friends, alumni and crew of J/Boats are doing worldwide

* J/70 TORQEEDO RACING is a family affair! Yes, indeed it is and they have a really fun time doing it, too, as evidenced by the wonderful time they had at the Sperry Topsider St Petersburg NOOD Regatta this past weekend! Torqeedo's J/70 sailing team fielded the two youngest crew members in the regatta. During the racing, Atlantic Marketing's Brandon Flack steered the boat with his wife, their 10-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. However, we have evidence that shows on Friday's light air racing, that "little Flack" took over the helm from his Dad and commandeered the ship! "Avast ye mateys, man the oars and let us sally forth into the great unknown", someone overhead from nearby as the little guy took over--- oh dear, weren't they supposed to use those white sails?

"The J/70 was built to be an easy-to-own, high performance one-design that is exciting to sail and stable enough for the family," said Flack. "Adding a Torqeedo Travel 1003 electric motor makes perfect sense. It requires no maintenance and eliminates any concerns about gas storage or leakage. I'm thrilled to be able to demonstrate this concept with my own family."

And so, it was! For Friday afternoon as well as on Saturday morning, you could see the great Viking ship TORQEEDO powering away on its mighty mite Torqeedo motor towing other boats and cruising merrily along without making a sound-- quite eerie, really, when all you hear around you was the "weed wacker motors" of the 2-cylinder outboard variety buzzing along next to you.

According to Brandon, "the Travel 1003 can push the 22.7' sailboat along at 6 knots. When cruising at 5 knots, it provides an 8-mile range on a single battery charge. Comparable to 3 hp and weighing only 31 lbs, the Travel 1003 is great for dinghies, tenders, Jon boats, fishing boats and sailboats up to 3,000 lbs. It can be rigged for remote throttle, too!" For more info on these electric engines, check out: http://www.torqeedo.com

* J/160 AVATAR headed for the Caribbean, again! We LOVE these updates from our cruising J sailors that continue to criss-cross the Seven Seas. This one comes from Alan Fougere, sailing his beloved J/160 AVATAR.

Alan sent us an email update commenting on their passage south this winter, "In mid-December AVATAR completed her sixth transit to her winter Caribbean home, Grand Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI (seen above) from her home port in Quissett (Falmouth), MA. A crew of three, Captain Alan (e.g. me), Crew Pablo Brissett and Mark Conroy, covered the 1,500 nm trip in in her best time to date- 7 Days 5 Hours, averaging 8.7 kts, that's about 208 nm per day! Amazing passage it was! Rainbow at right far offshore was some of the amazing phenomenon we experienced on this fast offshore passage.

AVATAR will participate in the BVI Sailing Festival/Regatta again in 2013, where last year she won the Nanny Key Cup Cruising Class race around the Island of Virgin Gorda. Here are some photos for you to share with the J/Community at-large. Enjoy!"
Best, Alan Fougere/ AVATAR

* Bill & Judy Stellin recently had an interview about cruising on their J/42 in the Wall St Journal called "Retiring on the Open Sea". The Wall St Journal asked Bill to reply to dozens of questions that flooded into the WSJ's Editor desks. Here's the update:

Retiring on the Sea: Answering Readers' QuestionsAdvice about selecting a boat, ocean crossings, itineraries and safety

The article in our WSJ Online December retirement report about eight years spent sailing the Mediterranean— "Retiring to the Open Sea"— prompted many questions and comments from readers. We asked William Stellin, who wrote the story, to answer some of the most common queries.

WSJ- "What kind and make of boat did you use? Looking back, would you have picked a different boat?"

Bill- "In 1995-96, J/Boats of Newport, RI, came out with a new cruiser/racer model, the J/42. We bought hull No. 6 of this popular 42-foot sailboat and named it JAYWALKER. This was our fourth boat since beginning sailing in 1975.

Although long-distance cruising wasn't what we had in mind when we purchased JAYWALKER, it soon became apparent it had the ability to carry us easily and safely anywhere we wanted to go. Because the boat is light, it sails well in light winds, which means very little motoring is necessary.

People often ask (and argue) about what boat is best for cruising. Any boat that is strong, safe, fast, comfortable and easily handled by two people should fit the bill. One thing for sure, fast is fun—and important when trying to avoid bad weather."

The J Cruising Community J Cruisers continue their adventures around the world, below are a selection of most excellent "blogs" written by their prolific publishers. Some terribly amusing anecdotes and pearls of wisdom are contained in their blogs. Read some! You'll love it.

* The J/42 JARANA continues their epic voyage around the Pacific. Continue to read about Bill and Kathy Cuffel's big adventure cruising the South Pacific headed for New Zealand. Their blog is here: http://www.svjarana.blogspot.com/

* John and Mary Driver are sailing their J/130 SHAZAM for extended cruising in the Atlantic basin. At this time, John and Mary finished their double-handed crossing of the Atlantic, landing in Portugal on their J/130 Shazam after completion of their ARC Rally. Read the latest news at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/shazam/.

* Several J/160 owners are island hopping across the world's oceans, fulfilling life long dreams to cruise the Pacific islands, the Caribbean islands, the Indian Ocean and all points in between. Anyone for Cape Horn and penguins?? Read more about their adventures and escapades (like our J/109 GAIA, J/42s PAX and JAYWALKER and J/130 SHAZAM friends above).

- SALACIA, the J/160 owned by Stephen and Cyndy Everett has an on-going blog describing some of their more amusing experiences (http://www.salacia1.blogspot.com).

- Bill and Susan Grun on the J/160 AVANTE are also sailing in the Pacific archipelago, read more about their great adventures on their blog (http://web.me.com/susangrun). Read about their latest adventures as they've gotten to New Zealand- "Avante Cruises the Pacific".

- Eric and Jenn on the J/160 MANDALAY also sailed the Pacific archipelago, read more on their blog at http://www.sailmandalay.com. Eric and Jenn are J/World alumni took MANDALAY up and down the West Coast (Mexico, CA), then to the South Pacific and New Zealand. MANDALAY is back in San Francisco now, and in the J/World fleet--she is available for skippered charters, private instruction, and corporate/executive groups.

* The J/109 GAIA (seen right in the Java Sea) was sailed by Bob Riggle and Phyllis Macay around the world. In February 2011, their cruising adventures came to an abrupt, sad ending. As a tribute to them and their cruising friends worldwide, we hope their chronicles on their GAIA website remains a tribute to their warm-hearted spirits- read more about why many loved them dearly and will remain touched by their loving spirit forever-http://www.gaiaworldtour.net/